WE WILL NOT BE MOVED!
Kildare refuse to go to Croker GAA threaten to expel them
KILDARE will have to play their All-Ireland SFC qualifier against Mayo at Croke Park this Saturday or face expulsion from the competition.
The GAA last night stood resolutely behind the decision by the Central Competitions Control Committee (CCCC) to strip Kildare of home advantage following yesterday morning’s draw, which was overseen by GAA president John Horan.
The association insisted the clash was moved to Croke Park as a result of ‘health and safety’ concerns over playing the game in St Conleth’s Park.
‘The CCCC have made the fixture and it stands,’ insisted the GAA’s communications director Alan Milton last night. Kildare manager Cian O’Neill, with the backing of his players and county board, told RTE’s Six One news yesterday that his team would be ‘togging out’ in Newbridge on Saturday evening.
The CCCC made the decision to move the game after ruling that the Kildare venue, which has a capacity of 8,122 for an all-ticket game, could not cope with the demand generated by Mayo’s huge number of travelling supporters.
When the two counties clashed at the same stage of the Championship in 2016, 14,557 clicked through the turnstiles.
IN THE GAA’s version of a Mexican stand-off, Kildare are set to lay down their championship lives for the right to play at St Conleth’s Park.
The cold reality facing the GAA last night was that the Lilywhites will not travel to Croke Park to fulfil Saturday’s scheduled thirdround qualifier clash with Mayo after the Central Competitions Control Committee (CCCC) stripped them of home advantage just hours after their name came out of the drum first in yesterday morning’s draw.
In a choreographed move, just minutes after Kildare County Board issued a statement, Cian O’Neill went on RTE’s Six One news last night to put flesh on the bones of their grievance.
‘We’ll be in St Conleth’s Park, we’re going to be togged out, we’re going to be ready to go,’ he said.
‘That’s our home venue, we earned it by winning the last two matches on the road and that’s not going to be taken away from us,’ vowed the Kildare boss.
It was a declaration which left little room for doubt, with former Kildare star John Doyle warning that the GAA should not confuse O’Neill’s position for bluster.
‘He doesn’t look to me like a guy who is going to back down and if there was any doubt there, he would have opted to say nothing,’ said Doyle last night.
And on the other side, the GAA were equally adamant that if O’Neill and Kildare will not budge, then they will pay the ultimate price. ‘The game has been fixed for 7pm in Croke Park, and that is not going to change under any circumstances.
‘If Kildare don’t show up in Croke Park on Saturday at 7pm the game will be awarded to Mayo,’ insisted Croke Park’s Fergal McGill.
And with a logistical window of less than 24 hours left for someone to blink first, the GAA is careering headlong into its first forfeiture in the All-Ireland series since the Tipperary footballers gave a walkover to Fermanagh back in 2004.
That was as a result of an internal dispute in Tipperary; this, however, is a crisis that is unprecedented in the GAA’s modern history.
The CCCC’s argument is based on numbers and on the fear of the chaos that would ensue if the game was fixed for the Kildare venue. When the two teams met, also in the third round of the qualifiers two years ago, the fixture